Berry Chia Jam

We’ve been winkling out the last of the blackberries from the hedgerows around our home and turning them into jam! Ah jam… swirled into porridge, spread on toast, dolloped on scones. So delicious, but usually loaded with sugar. Enter chia jam… just as tasty, just as pretty and no refined sugar in sight, so it’s a whole load better for you, plus all those tiny chia seeds are packed with protein for extra oomph. Hooray for healthier jam!

There’s an old saying in British folklore that you shouldn’t pick blackberries after the Michaelmas Festival on the 29th September, because they become bitter and squishy. Legend has it that on this day St Michael hurled the devil out of heaven, whereupon he landed in a prickly blackberry bush and cursed the fruit forever! And yet here we are a good 6 weeks later, still picking and eating the berries, in what’s been an unseasonably warm autumn. We need some proper cold weather now. Bring on the snow and the hoar frosts, open fires and lots of crumpets with chia jam…

Berry Chia Jam

This recipe works brilliantly with all types of berries and it’s fun to experiment with other seasonal fruits too. Our favourites are blackberry (because we love foraging for them) and raspberry (because they’re a lovely colour)!

Ingredients:

150g (5½oz) fresh or frozen berries

2 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp chia seeds

1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:

Place the berries and syrup in a saucepan and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes, until bubbling.

Remove the pan from the hob and mash the fruit into a rough purée with a fork. Stir in the chia seeds.

Return to the hob, lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.

Stir in the lemon juice.

Decant into a sterilised jar (fresh out of the dishwasher or dunked in boiling water). Put the lid on and set aside to cool.